Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Purple Martins

It's that time of year. We have been trying to start a colony for 8 years. Last year, we finally had a pair rear 4 hatchlings to near fledge, then they all disappeared around the 22nd day There was absolutely no evidence of predation...none. I still want to believe that we mis-counted the days and they actually did fledge...will remain a heart-broken mystery. Anyway, we had our first PM return to the gourds yesterday. Hasn't set up house yet, but poppin in and out of one of the gourds a bunch.

I absolutely love PM's....purple martins. I cut a very old, very large cedar tree, mounted a PM house on it and placed the whole thing out by the big pond. PM's everywhere after a couple of years. Funny thing however, they seem to disappear after the hatchlings achieve flying status. Kind of like you described. I wonder if that is their standard MO?

ML,
The boss is really the expert. I think she is half bird at heart....and I luv it...er, her. The little that I know, I glean from her and reading the Purple Martin Forum PM Forum . When we went thru our apparent loss last year, I studied up a little and the standard plan is that they often leave the nest and don't come back until next year. It is also possible that they will return a few times over the next few days after first leaving, but ultimately take off for the balance of the year.

The PM Forum has a new member named Meadowlark.

welcome back

I joined as well...just gotta wait for that membership confirmation e-mail. This is something I've been thinking about for a long time. Just need to get started. Hope it's not too late for this season...

Thank you for the link Brettski! I sent it to my folks, they have been trying to get purple martins to stop and nest at the pond for the last two years.

We put up a "Martin Mansion" at the back of our yard 3 years ago. The first Spring a family of Purple Martins came in and ran off all the other birds. It was great because there was hardly a bug in the back yard for the whole summer. No 'skeeters! Martins are very friendly & curious birds too, they will hover around and sing when you're outside.

Last year they came back, stayed for a few days, and then left A friend of mine who has a bunch of successfull Martin houses says some trees have grown too close to the Martin mansion. He says Martins will quit coming to a mansion if there are trees of any size within 50'. Our mansion is next to a creek in the backyard, and some fast growing River Birch are growing up near it. Now in the 3rd year I'm seeing some more Martins out there over the last few days. Maybe they will stick around this year.

Here is a link to the article The Relationship of Purple Martins to Mosquito Control.
Purple martin mosquito

Sometimes, the places that sell those martin houses try to paint a different picture than what is really logical.

We had one of the popular aluminum sextagonal martin houses for the first couple of years with very little interest. We switched to the plastic gourds and times have changed....they love 'em! Our location is thin for activity, but we see a couple more each year. I think the biggest kick is when Donna lowers the gourds to do a nest check, pops open the hatch, and reaches in and removes the hatchlings, one by one, to make sure all is well and each is accounted for. Mom and dad circle above, waiting to go back in and do the same check.

When I was a kid, my grandfather built a Martin house that could house 16 nesting pairs. He put it up at the head of the one acre garden that the families shared(grandparents,gradfather's brothers family, our family, and my uncles)the martins showed up every year, and helped to keep the bugs controled in the garden. I learned alot in that garden from my grandmother, she was a 5th grade teacher, and loved science. I miss them both.

Here are two more organiations that someone might be interested in.

North American Bluebird Society
www.nabluebirdsociety.org

Bat Conservation International
www.batcon.org

ealong59
Is it possible to re-capture the magic and memories with your own effort to start a PM colony? I would be happy to share what I know, my mistakes, etc. The PM forum link above is awesome for info. There is, indeed, something magical about the species. It is humbling to know that their existence relies on humans to provide a home and shelter to propogate. We have suffered broken hearts a few years in a row for fear of failure, but will not be daunted. It's a yearly attempt to raise another small family.

We put a purple martin house up at the Zephyr Pond and have had not takers. We hope there is still time to get some. We also have started putting up nesting boxes to try restore the blue bird population as part of our wildlife exemption. There is a Texas Blue Bird Society. We might try the gourds. Some recommendation on how high and how many to intstall? Is there a particular direction to face the entrance? Any help is appreciated.

heybud, I built some bluebird houses last year. I installed them on fence posts. A neighbor about 1/4 mile away had them but I had never even seen one. I modeled the houses on some I saw on EBAY. In early Spring they showed up and immediately nested. I was thrilled until the squirrels got them.

This year I put them on T posts and built some sheet metal squirrel excluders. Problem is that the excluder flops in the breeze and no birds go near them. I might try some gourds. At least I could hang them and grease the wire.

Can't say wether or not they eat mosquito's but they love carpenter bee's. The bees love log homes and the woodpeckers love the baby bees and destroy the logs to get them. We chose Martins over pesticides and it has worked wonderfully.

heybud- leave the Martin houses up for awhile just in case. The scouts usually come in february this far south and you will have better luck next year.

Up here, they say to leave the housing out until September even though there is no activity. It will be spotted during the south migration and the yearlings will recall when they return next year if their original/first housing choice is not available. Regarding housing, as noted in a post above, the plastic gourds have yielded the best results, albeit limited activity overall in our area. We use the oval holes to deter Starlings. Our biggest enemy is the sparrows. We have taken the the old alum Martin house and installed it about 80 ft away on a shorter pole and right next to a tree. We let the sparrows have that one...the Martins aren't much interested because of the height and the proximity to the tree. It has helped alot, but occassionally I have to put the pellet gun to work when they mess around with the gourds. The PM's are pretty darn protective, tho, when they're in a family way. Three years ago, a sparrow got in when they were both out feeding and pecked holes in the eggs and threw a couple out the hole.

heybud

I started feeding peanuts and black oil sunflower seeds and have built up a flock of GREEN jays to near 100. We absolutely love them. Will try and post pics of redbirds and greenjays at a feeder next week when wife returns.

ahavatsa,

Green jays? We haven't seen those at our place that I know of....we do sometimes have 30 to 40 Cardinals at the bird feeders.

ahvatsa - I am originally from George West Area, so know about those Green Jays. As I understand it, that is about the North end of their territory. They are neat birds, wish we could get them to come to Zephyr. BTW, while at Zephyr last week we saw a fairly large bird that was black with white around the breast and some on the head with a plume on top of the head. Never seen one before that I recall. Anyone birders know what it might be.

...uh oh
Heybud...been here yet?
Water Turkey?

Bud
I am between McCoy and Poth on the southwest edge of Wilson Co. My wife does the birding thing and she thinks the warmer winters have brought them north. Some used to leave in spring, but the peanuts have kept them around all year now. The bird you saw may have been a Plover. We have seen a few moving through.

I've been wanting Purple Martins for awhile too, but haven't gotten around to putting up a house for them yet because I'm still too confused on what is the right one, and do I really want to spend hundreds of dollars on one without knowing it will realy work.

Last summer I brought power into my land for my new home. The power lines cross the corner of my small pond. About a week later, Purple Martins started showing up.

At first there were just a few of them and I wasn't even sure what they were. They'd fly around the pond, drink from it while flying and do neet tricks in the air. They also like to sit on the power lines.

Then the few of them turned into dozens and dozens of them. They line up all together along one of the power lines. Kind of funny how the bunch up like that.

They started coming back again a few weeks ago. Just two at first. Now theres maybe a dozen, but not all the time.

They have also become more friendly towards us. They fly right around us and no longer fly off when we walk by them when they are on the power lines.

I told a friend that I wanted to get a few homes for them, but wasn't sure if it would matter. I don't know where they nest or life at night.

He said, they've been around thousands of years before people started making homes for them.

So now I'm inclined to let them do their thing and enjoy the show. It really is fun to watch them in the air and when they drink from the pond. Especially when there's a hundred of them or more!!!

Eddie

Eddie,
You have a bird blessing. If you have the time, you should bump around the PM Forum link I provided in one of my first posts. If no time, check out this history to understand: PM History
Then, a quick visit to: PM FAQ
In the FAQ, #28 is an interesting aside to PaPond's post about bees.